Sew a Simple Chic Crossbody Purse

Making your own yarn from jersey knit is a great way to create a thick, usable yarn for crocheting a large area rug.

Fold the jersey knit with selvedge edges together and lay on your cutting mat. You will be slicing through both layers of fabric at one time.
Start at the edge opposite the fold, and cut along the width of the fabric 1” from the bottom.

Stop cutting the fabric about 1” away from the folded edge.

At this point, move the ruler up 1” (so that it is 1” above the line you just cut) and starting at the folded edge cut in the opposite direction of your first cut.

Again, stop cutting 1” short of the edges of the fabric.

Push the acrylic ruler up by 1”, and starting at the edges, cut into the fabric back the way you just came. Continue cutting back and forth this way, always stopping 1” from the edge and starting on the outside edge of the fabric.

I worked on cutting the knit this way in batches of one yard. Once I had cut one yard of fabric, I found the starting ends and snipped into the fold to separate the two lengths. Continue to cut the fold at every join, in the same way.

Pull in the jersey knit and allow it to curl at the edges. Then roll into balls of yarn ready to crochet.Crochet rug pattern
• Crochet hook N (9.00mm)
• Ch 5. Sl st into 5th Ch from hook to form ring.• Ch 2. 11 dc in ring. Join to ch 2 with sl st. (12 st)

• Ch 2. Dc in same stitch. 2 dc in each stitch around. Join to ch 2 with sl st. (24 st)
• Ch 2. Dc in same st, dc in next st. *2 dc in next st, dc in next st* all the way around. (36 st)
• Ch 2. Dc in same st, dc in next 2 st. *2 dc in next st, dc in next 2 st*all the way around (48 st)• Ch 2. Dc in same st, dc in next 3 st. *2 dc in next st, dc in next 3 st* all the way around (60 st)

Continue to increase according to pattern until you get to the desired size. I changed colors whenever I felt the need. Because the stitches are large and the yarn forgiving, I simply cast on the new color yarn by tying it on to the previous strand, hiding the knots on the underside of the rug.

NOTE. If the edges of your rug get overly wavy, it means you have too many stitches. Rip out the last row or two and increase the number of stitches between the 2 dc in next st, effectively reducing the number of stitches by which your rug is increasing.

If your rug curls upwards tightly at the edges, it means you don’t have enough stitches going around, so you’ll need to decrease the number of stitches between the 2 dc in next st, giving you extra stitches.

Keep an eye on how your rug is laying, and don’t be scared to adjust your stitches accordingly.